Mother's Hollow - Timeline
by GhostOfCinders
Summary: There are towns where the line between ordinary and supernatural fades, towns where darkess lies around every corner. Twin Peaks, Castle Rock and Derry. Gravity Falls, Night Vale or Hawkins. Mother's Hollow is my own personal contribution to this proud narrative tradition. Set in the World of Darkness and being the stage of many stories of mine, here's the timeline I wrote for it.
1. 19th Century

Mother's Hollow Timeline

\- **19** **th** **Century**

Early 19th Century – The first European settlers arrive in the area, a vast valley located in the middle of the woods of southern Washington State. Mostly fur traders and miners, the settlers find an agreement with the natives and begin to live in the valley.

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1858 – Ezra Mather, son of a rich family of the Atlantic Coast, arrives in the area with his wife and their daughter. His intention clear from the start, Mather begins to acquire lands and resources both from settlers and natives. Few refuse his generous offers and the few who do are constantly pressured to change their mind. The native tribes, on the other hand are either scammed or driven out at the faintest pretext. Some resist, but to no avail.

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1860 – Ezra Mather now owns much of the surrounding land. Many inhabitants of the area work for him, in a way or the other, and he decides to name the major settlement of the valley Mather's Hollow. According to many sources, few people like Mather and most agree he's a vile and greedy man.

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1861 – Mather's wife, Lavinia, dies giving birth to their only son, John. Mather is deeply affected by her death and never remarries, living alone with his daughter Amelia, his son and their servants. His already questionable temper worsens.

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1867- While returning home from town, Mather is attacked and killed by a mountain lion in the middle of the woods. The news is met with rejoice from the citizens. John is the heir of the Mather's fortune but is too young to administrate it properly. Both him and his sister refer to the family lawyers for their needs.

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1869 – Sebastian Pope, a Civil War veteran, arrives to Mather's Hollow. He comes from a impoverished family but he's a serious man that soon finds his place in town. He eventually begins to court Amelia.

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April 30, 1870 – Sebastian Pope marries Amelia Mather. Sebastian is a rough and severe man but, by all accounts, the two seem to genuinely love each other.

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1871 – John Mathers dies in a accident while he's playing on the frozen surface of Adder Lake. The ice cracks and the kid falls in the water, his body never to be found. Amelia, the last of her family, inherits all the fortunes. Pope consequently becomes the head of the family and in a gesture that only few consider disrespectful, changes the name of the town from Mather's Hollow to Mother's Hollow, thus erasing Ezra's legacy with one fell swoop.

Pope proves to be a capable businessman and with his contribution the whole community grows. He is not a easy man to deal with and shows little tolerance for those he does not like, but he's fair and honorable most often than not, a welcomed improvement over Ezra Mather. Even today, it is Pope who is considered the true founder of the town.

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1873 – Irwin Whitefield, an explorer from Virginia, is the first man to climb the highest of the two mountains near Mother's Hollow. He names it "Hurricane Rock", not caring for the fact that the mountain was already known for the name the natives gave it. The name sticks but, while Whitefield brags profusely about his feat, many point out that a big part of the credit goes to the local guides he enlisted. Whitefield refuses to accept this and fights several duels over the issue. He also promises he will climb the other major mountain of the region once winter is over and that he would do it alone, with only another person with him to act as witness.

Amelia Mather gives birth to two twins, Diane and Abraham.

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1874 – Irwin Whitefield falls off from the mountain he was trying to climb and dies. A local legend tells that if you pay attention it is still possible to hear the terrified scream Whitefield made as he fell. John Blue Eyes, local trapper and son of a fur trader and a native, climbs the mountain to recover Whitefield's body and bring it to his family. A week later, he return to the mountain and reaches the top. Keeping with the nomenclature the unlucky explorer used for the mountain nearby, John names this one "Thunder Peak".

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1880 – The nearby town of Green Cove is founded. A small village of river fishermen and traders, it soon develops a friendly yet sturdy rivalry with Mother's Hollow. The benefits of the trade between the two towns quickly prove to be a welcomed development.

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October 11, 1883 – A sudden downpour hits Mother's Hollow, like it never happened before. Both Lower and Upper Adder Lake are filled to the brim, consequently widening the rivers connected to them. The Snake Horn River, which runs through the town, erupts from from its banks and floods Mother's Hollow. A big portion of the town is destroyed. At least three different survivors tell to have noticed a huge figure flying in the middle of the storm, but they're all clearly shocked.

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1883 – Mother's Hollow mourns its losses while Sebastian Pope, along with the other elders of the town, oversees the reconstruction. The process, along with the huge amounts of money Pope unexplainably manages to invest to it, attract a a lot of new settlers and activities. It takes time, but ultimately this allows Mother's Hollow to grow bigger than it ever was.

Many begin to question Pope's richness. Tales of "Pope's gold" and "the hidden fortune of the Mathers" begin to spread, but Pope himself never addresses the matter and dismisses any question about it as nonsense.

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1888 – A lonely miner finds gold while digging near Hurricane Rock. The following gold rush leads to the foundation of the mining town of Hayter's Tongue. The miners enter in conflict with the natives, both because the tribes consider the mountain a holy place that should not be defiled and because the place the miners decide to settle is part of the native reservations. The two sides have a series of heated confrontations and violence does occur from time to time.

Hayter's Tongue is barely a functional town and relies heavily on Mother's Hollow and Green Cove to survive. Other gold prospectors explore the region, some with more luck than others. The citizen of Mother's Hollow itself test their luck searching gold both in the rivers and in the cliffs close to Adder Lake.

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1889 – After the Enabling Act of 1889 passes, Mother's Hollow becomes officially part of the new State of Washington.

Several sighting of "a creature as tall as three grown men, with eyes like burning coals" happen. Modern cryptozoology enthusiast tend to conflate the sighting to those of Bigfoot.

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1891 – The anthropologist Edwin Dyer arrives to Mother's Hollow. During his researches he claims to have found "the bones of creatures that should not exist" and ruins of ancient civilizations far older than the native ones. Then again, Dyer is a notorious drunk and when asked to show proof to support his claims, he finds himself unable to do so. He spends most of his money in the gambling houses and brothels of Hayter's Tongue, before running away when the debts grow too much. Whatever his destination, Dyer disappears from history, many claiming he got lost in the woods.

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1894 – Ernst and Clara Hoffman, a couple of scientists, take residence in town. The two build their house in the woods not far from Mother's Hollow, coming to town only when needed. Their isolation and love for privacy spark the immagination of the citizens, but the couple never causes problems. One day, they're joined by their son who, according to the Hoffmans, they had previously sent to study abroad. Nobody seems able to recall if the either Ernst or Clara ever mentioned the existence of the young man.

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1896 – A series of unexplainable gruesome murders happen in Hayter's Tongue. All the victims are viciously mutilated and their bodies exposed in a ritual manner. The miners blame the natives and set fire to their reservation. The murders become rarer, but won't truly stop until a couple of years.

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1899 – The woods to the southwest of Mother's Hollow are declared to be protected by the federal government, thus forming the Thessaly National Forest.

The mines of Hayter's Tongue no longer bear fruit. This, combined with an unspecified outbreak and a series of mining collapses, marks the downfall of the small town. People begin to leave and Hayter's Tongue soon becomes a ghost town.


	2. First Half Of The 20th Century

**20th Century (First Half)**

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1902 - A branch of the Prescott family, a rich family known for its activities spanning the area near the coast of Oregon, arrives to Mother's Hollow. They try to extend their influence over Mother's Hollow but find a worthy opponent in the Popes. The elderly Sebastian Pope is still the uncontested leader of the family and fights the Prescotts fiercely. The confrontation between the two families is merciless and not alway morally sound. No matter how much money the Prescotts receive from their relatives in Oregon, they never manage to gain the upper hand.

Three kids disappear in the woods. One reemerges three months later, emaciated but somehow still alive. He holds no memory of what happened in the meantime. The other two will never be found.

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1904 - For seven hours, a heavy snowfall strikes Mother's Hollow. It's the middle of July.

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1905 - Amelia Mather (or rather, Amelia Pope) founds the Mother's Hollow Women Circle, with purpose of "giving to the local women eager to gain a seat to table of the world a place to know each other and discuss their ideas". The Circle gains a bit of notoriety and is visited by many progressive women of the age, invited by the enterprising Amelia.

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1907 – Sebastian Pope dies. The details surrounding the death are not clear, but it was apparently due to natural causes, which makes sense considering his age. Amelia is heartbroken. Some claim she lost her reason, as she blames some unknown entity for her husband's death.

Without Sebastian, the fortune of his family dwindles. Even their seemingly neverending richness finally falters. The family never fully recovers. The local Prescotts are unable to seize the occasion because the main branch of the family in Oregon has stopped supporting their efforts and is not sending them money anymore. The two families are locked in a cycle of gains and losses that continues to this day, never able to defeat the other. The hostilities eventually grow colder and both the Pope and the Prescotts are nowadays considered to be among the most renowned families of Mother's Hollow

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1908 – Since the death of Sebastian, Amelia Pope has lead several scouting trips across the region along with other women from the Women Circle. Nobody outside the Circle knows what they're looking for and the fact that the group has suddenly become extremely secretive does not help, but their expeditions become some sort of local sensation. All ends when a lumberman finds Amelia's dead body in the Adder Lake. Everyone agrees she killed herself.

A group of investors from Seattle finances the building of a great lumber mill on the banks of Snake Horn River. They entrust the control of the mill to Ben Parson, a fellow citizen of theirs that moves to Mother's Hollow with his family.

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1909 – Workers from the Parson's lumber mill recount to have seen a creature in the waters between Snake Horn River and Diamond Lake, to the south. Soon several people claim to have seen it in Adder Lake as well. The story makes it to the news and acquires national importance when a journal offers an impressive sum of money to anyone able to capture the beast. For a handful of months, Mother's Hollow is invaded by "monster hunters" trying to capture the mysterious creature, with plenty of sightings, most of them coming from dubious sources. Soon, the vast hydrography of the region proves to be problematic, since the monster can hypothetically swim anywhere. Most of the hunters slowly give up.

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1911 – Gregor Rusakov, a famous daredevil, travels to Mother's Hollow with the intention to jump in a barrel from the waterfall that separates Upper and Lower Adder Lake. People lose sight of him while he jumps, but he soon resurfaces. Rusakov is not injured, not an easy feat considering the height of the waterfall, but his hairs are now completely white and he is in state of shock. When people later ask him what happened, he refuses to speak.

After weeks of silence, some people go check for the Catmints, a family of farmers which works on the Prescott's land by concession. They're all found murdered, except for the elder son and one of the daughters, which are missing and presumed dead. The farm gains the reputations to be haunted since then. Even nowadays the decrepit farm is a place the teens dare each other to spend the night in.

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1913 – A segment of the Northern Pacific Railway is built near Mother's Hollow. Because of the steep rock cliffs and moltitude of rivers that encroach the town, the railroad is actually relatively far from Mother's Hollow, in the eastern woods. It is used mostly as a shipping railroad, with only a solitary postal station along the way.

During the yearly Harvest Festival, Albert Prescott and David Pope get in an altercation over a young woman they both were trying to court. The two decide to settle it with a strength contest. Prescott wins but Pope takes out a gun and shoots him immediately after, killing the man. Pope manages to escape in the following ruckus but is found dead in the fields the next morning, with a terrified look on his face. The Popes blame the Prescotts but, considering one of their killed a member of the rival family in the first place, decide to leave it at it. The Prescotts grudgingly agree.

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1914 – An 11 year-old boy named Josiah Thornton, son of a local farmer, convinces his family to leave their farm for the night. As they're leaving, a meteor hits the house, completely destroying it. Josiah claims to have seen the disaster happening in a vision. Due to nature of the event, Josiah and his family find themselves at the center of the attention and eventually the story leaks out. Josiah says he regularly has visions of some sort but the poor kid his strangled by his father a month later, before he can demonstrate again his ability to predict the future.

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1917 – Communications with the park ranger Elias Moore, assigned to a firewatch tower in the Thessaly National Forest, interrupt abruptly. Those who go to investigate find a station perfectly in order but no traces of the man, aside from some nonsensical annotations in the ranger's journal. Further researches in the woods bear no fruit.

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1919 – A World War 1 survivor named Errol Castaigne arrives to Mother's Hollow. He brings several people with him and they settle not far from the town itself. They initially keep a low profile but eventually the locals discover Castaigne is the leader of a sort of cult named "Eyes of the Hyades". The cult's doctrine is completely unknown, taught only to members and associates. The group proves to be quite hostile and wary of outsiders of it and soon strange stories about it begin to circulate. At first, Castaigne dedicates some effort to ensure some sort of peaceful, if tense, cohabitation but quickly decides to just retreat to isolation. The "Eyes of the Hyades" are blamed by superstitious folk for many unfortunate occurrences that strike Mother's Hollow, from deaths to accidents, but ultimately nobody has proof to support these weak accusations.

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1921 – A collection of poems and tales by local young author Isabel Foxglove is published nationwide, to a fairly positive reception. The writings share a common style that merges together classical pantheism, love for nature, Victorian themes and modern sensibilities. Miss Foxglove herself is a character in the majority of the collection. The recurring element across the whole book is a figure named "Green Prince", which accompanies Isabel during most of the collection. Soon after publishing the book, while wandering in the woods during the summer of 1921, Miss Foxglove is caught outside by a sudden summer rain and disappears for a day. She returns the following morning, but many recount something happened to her. She never writes again.

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1922 – The thick woods and intricate rivers around Mother's Hollow are used by many liquor smugglers who try to evade the law. Even nowadays people still discover traces of the smuggler's activities from time to time, all parts of a colorful (if brief) period of the region's history. 1922 in particular is remembered for the confrontation between the Elder brothers and the federal lawmen, which involved a chase through the eastern rapids that ended with the Elder's boat crashing on the rock and the three men dying in the following shooting.

After many claim to have witnessed a pillar of blinding light appearing for few seconds in the sky above the settlement of the "Eyes of the Hyades", people set forth to investigate. Nobody can tell what happened, but all the members of the cult are found dead. Local authorities consider it a mass suicide and prefer to let the story fade away and conduct no medical examinations, thus leaving no official records whatsoever. Some stories about the bodies being found in rather bizarre conditions spread around, but most of those come from people not present at the moment of the discovery. According to the sheriff and his men, Castaigne himself is dead as well.

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1924 – Following the death of his father, owner of a large patch of land within the woods, Adrien Talbot donates the land he inherited to the State of Washington, under the the condition "they'll use it to do something good". The federal government considers many options, but ultimately uses the land to build the Talbot Sanatorium, a mental institution. The Sanatorium is located between Mother's Hollow and Green Cove, in the woods not far from the deserted Hayter's Tongue. Both towns are not not happy with the asylum being built, but have no power over the decision. As for Talbot himself, he relinquishes all his possessions and goes to live in the woods as a hermit.

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1926 – In a rather embarassing move, Franklin Pope hands over a large sum to a man that has just arrived to town and claims to have found the map to a treasure hidden in the woods and to be in need of funds. Franklin is asked to go home and prepare for an adventurous expedition but, when he returns the man is nowhere to be found. This is a heavy blow for the already faltering fortune of the Popes.

The Talbot Sanatorium opens. The appointed director is Dr. Howard Machen, considered by many to be a pioneer in his field.

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1933 - The Pope family invests all its remaining money in a huge coal mine not far from town. The mine proves to be rich, but its costs and the already existing debts never allow the Pope to regain their old fortune. Still, it proves to be a safe source of cash for them and of a welcomed new source work for the whole town. The idea of the mine comes not from Franklin but from his wife Lavinia, which is the one that oversees all the details. The man tries to take credit for it, but the whole town knows and Franklin's continuous attempts to prove otherwise make him a sort of joke among the citizens.

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1935 - Nobody knows what happened, but a small section of the nearby railroad is found completely destroyed, the tracks eradicated and torn as if they were branches. Luckily, a local hunter notices this and warn the authorities before an accident happens.

During a visit to his coal mine, Franklin Pope falls into a pit and remains trapped. He's heavily injured, but the miners can't do nothing but to keep him asking for help for hours, until he perishes. The details on how he fell are not clear, especially since the part of the mine where this happened was off limits for safety reasons. Some claim he was brought there and pushed down, with even lesser people whispering about the gossip according to which the man had eventually began to take his frustration out on his wife and children.

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1936 - A drifter who goes by the name of Jim Sandstone is the winner of the yearly strongman competition held during the Harvest Festival. Sandstone makes a good impression on the population and is celebrated as a champion for the remainder of the festival but, on its last days, something happens. The details are lost to history, but somehow the man does something that enrages the whole town and is lynched by an angry mob. There's plenty of documentation regarding the event, including a picture of Sandstone's corpse hanging from a tree, thus making possible for local historians to know about it.

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1938 - A colossal thunderstorm surrounds Mother's Hollow. People barricade themselves inside but the eerie calm the storm brings with itself soon drives people to go out and take a look. Strangely, the storm barely affects the town, apart from some bizarre current of wind and little rain. Instead, hundreds of lightnings strike the top of Hurricane Rock for the whole night, while the population stares in awe.

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1943 - Part of the Pope's mine collapses. A miner, Hugo Barnes, remains buried but, when found three days later, he is somehow alive and fine, considered the situation. He warns other to not try and open the destroyed galleries, something the others initially agree with. Barnes does not leave the job, but his personality changes and turns from silent but steady worker into an open and friendly individual that soon the others come to see as some sort of lucky charm.

The Pope are forced to sell a share of the mine and find partners in order to rebuild.

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1945 - After several days of rain alarmingly increase the size of Snake Horn River, the town of Mother's Hollow makes formal request for an intervention from the government. The result is the construction of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Dam, right over the waterfall in the Upper Adder Lake.

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1946 - The Arsenau brothers, who were thought to be dead in the War, return to town to much rejoice. Soon though, their mother claims the two are not her real sons and, after months of desperate pleas, tries to stab the younger of the two. She is subsequently institutionalized in the Talbot Sanatorium.

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1948 – The Roosevelt Dam is completed. The dam is able to regulate the level of the water passing from Upper Adder Lake to Lower Adder Lake but usually does not alter the size of of the waterfall much, while also providing a clear view of the valley. The dam quickly becomes a popular sightseeing spot.

The government announces that during the works on the damn the surrounding area had been evaluated and considered fit for the creation of a military base. Weeks of discussion among the nearby communities happen, but in the end most of the people see this as a welcome development that will make everyone feel safer. Some object, but those that don't give up are seen as paranoid at best and crackpot at worst.

1950 - After a couple of years of work, the Hollister Air Force Station is completed and operational. Located on the farthest shore of Upper Adder Lake, the base is an impressive facility, if a slightly minor one. Soldier, pilots and other staff members frequently come down to Mother's Hollow when on license.

Danny Grove, one of the town milkmen, dies in a bizarre accidents when he catches fire seemingly out of nowhere while on his bike. The burning man keeps going for a block and a half as if nothing happened before the wheels melt down and he falls off.


End file.
